• Proceedings of the Korean DIstribution Association Conference
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• 2006.02a
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• pp.43-78
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• 2006

While trust and commitment, essential ingredients of the relationship quality variables, are core mediating variables for the purpose of maintaining the long-term relationship, in the context of the internal political economy of company and the relational performance of its members, there have been limited studies which explore as to how each of the dimensions have affect differently. The basic purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between an automobile manufacturer and its agencies. The main purpose of this study is to examine how each different dimension of trust and commitment on the automobile manufacturer have different mediating effects in the context of internal political economy variables and relational performance perceived by its agents. Another purpose is to investigate the mechanism by which the relational performance of the agencies is improved. An empirical study surveying 115 sales office managers at a leading automobile manufacturer in Korea was conducted. An analysis of the collected data indicates that while internal political economy variables have a positive influence on the agencies' relational performance through the mediating role of trust and commitment, agencies' benevolence on its headquarter has a different influence on the dimensions of commitment. Currently, an automobile manufacturer is advised to implement the relational management philosophy in dealing with its agencies with an hope of innovative orientation for customers. In this sense, this study is a big stride in providing ample implications for the automobile manufacturer in establishing trust and commitment, which are the prerequisite conditions in developing and maintaining a successful long-term relationship with its agencies, and in improving the agency's relational performance.

• Korean Journal of Construction Engineering and Management
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.97-106
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• 2013

The construction industry is now facing a new challenge of green construction. Based on a research question of "what motivates contractors to pursue green construction", the objective of this study is to identify and discuss key characteristics and implications of green construction motivators among major contractors. The Political Economy Approach was adpoted as a main research methodology. The study demonstrated that major contractors show a high level of expectation in the future of green construction and consider economic factors as higher motivators while paying attention to social trends towards green construction. In particular, internal economic motivators were highly considered and the commitment of senior management was viewed as a key motivator.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.31-43
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• 2017

The article is devoted to the theoretical and practical analysis of Chinese global leadership. The concept of leadership is applied as a methodology, which involves identifying the main factors, such as strategic power, the attractiveness of political institutions, the ability to provide acceptable ideas and the presence of allies that contribute to a comprehensive analysis of the country's leadership potential. The authors also describe the relevance of Chinese global leadership and analyze its domestic, economic and international causes. Moreover, the ''Belt and Road'' initiative is defined as the main mechanism for providing the influence of China on the global level which is now being changed its quantitative component, namely the increasing attention to the security aspects of this initiative. In addition to that, it is important to note that China maintains its economic and political positions in Africa, Central Asia and South-East Asia. Africa has a special role in the Chinese ''Belt and Road'' initiative as a recipient of Chinese investments and a site for the deployment of China's naval facilities to protect the trade routes. On the regional level, China will strive to become a leader of the trade and economic processes in the Asia-Pacific region, the South China Sea and the North Korea nuclear program issues. The American factor in modern international relations, namely so-called "Trump factor", which means the U.S. withdrawal from the Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Paris Agreement, will cause demand for Chinese leadership in the Asia-Pacific region and in the world as well. However, in this case a number of questions arise: is China prepared for this? Is Beijing able to bear greater responsibility? Does China have the potential for this? The article concludes that China will not become global leaders in the next 20-30 years, because of internal (political reforms) and foreign policy reasons (doctrinal formulation of foreign policy initiatives, military-political and economic power, international posture and relations with other states). The authors believe that the implementation of Chinese leadership is possible not on the condition of confrontation between China and the United States, but on the establishing of constructive relations between these countries. The last meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping showed a trend for creating channels for dialogue between Beijing and Washington, which can become the basis for interaction. An important place in the work is given to the analysis of development and forecasting the evolution of Russian-Chinese and U.S.-China relations. As for Russia, Moscow should conduct a policy that will not allow it to become a ''junior partner'' of China.

• International Journal of Railway
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• v.1 no.4
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• pp.129-133
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• 2008

Over the last $15{\sim}20$years, many countries have adopted policies of railway privatization to keep up with increasing competition from road and air transport. Although each country and case has its own history, market characteristics, political context as well as administrative process, railway privatizations (including railway restructure, concession etc.) in the west usually are accompanied with the establishment of new regulatory regimes. Therefore, railway governance has been innovating towards an interaction of government, regulator, industry bodies, user groups, trade unions and other interested groups within the regulatory framework. However, it is not the case in China. Although China had seen a partial privatization in some branch lines and is experiencing a much larger-scale privatization by establishing joint-ventures to build and operate high-speed passenger lines and implementing an asset-based securitization program, administrative control still occupies absolutely dominant position in the railway governance in China. Ministry of Railway (MOR) acts as the administrator, operator as well as regulator. There is no national policy that clearly positions railway in the transportation network and clarifies the role of government in railway development. There is also little participation from interested groups in the railway policy making, pricing, service standard or safety matter. Railway in China is solely governed by the mere executive agency. Efficiency-focused economic perspective explanation is far from satisfaction. A wider research perspective from political and social regime is of great potential to better explain and solve the problem. In the west, separation and constrains of power had long been established as a fundamental rule. In addition to internal separation of political power(legislation, execution and jurisdiction), rise of corporation in the 19th century and association revolution in the 20th century greatly fostered the growth of economic and social power. Therefore, political, social and economic organizations cooperate and compete with each other, which leads to a balanced and resonable power structure. While in China, political power, mainly party-controlled administrative power has been keeping a dominated position since the time of plan economy. Although the economic reform promoted the growth of economic power of enterprises, it is still not strong enough to compete with political power. Furthermore, under rigid political control, social organizations usually are affiliated to government, independent social power is still too weak to function. So, duo to the limited and slow reform in political and social regime in China, there is an unbalanced power structure within which political power is dominant, economic power expanding while social power still absent. Totally different power structure in China determines the fundamental institutional environment of her railway privatization and governance. It is expected that the exploration of who act behind railway governance and their acting strength (a power theory) will present us a better picture of railway governance as a relevant transportation mode. The paper first examines the railway governance in China and preliminarily establishes a linkage between railway governance and its fundamental institutional environment, i.e. power structure in a specific country. Secondly, the reason why there is no national policy in China is explored in the view of political power. In China, legislative power is more symbolic while party-controlled administrative power dominates political process and plays a fundamental role in Chinese railway governance. And then, in the part three railway finance reform is analyzed in the view of economic power, esp. the relationship of political power and economic power.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.19 no.2
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• pp.173-218
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• 2009

Bring this analysis down to people-centered development perspective and looking through democratization in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, we find similarities and differences among them related with the intensity of conflicts between development and human rights in the process of democratization in line with global transformation. Civil society in the Philippines criticized the developmental path in the Philippines which failed to implement land reform and eradication of poverty under the transition from 'patrimonial oligarchy' to democracy. In Thailand the coalition of military and the royalists had consolidated its power since Sarit military regime, which later paved the way 'hybrid oligarchy' era. Most Thai civil society organizations has regarded their developmental experience rather as 'maldevelopment' which disregarded economic and social rights. It has been especially believed by Thai localists that the stimulation of local markets and the building of autonomic community society will form the alternative economy without going against the conservative banner of nation, religion and king. Thaksin as a populist successfully took advantage of Thai localist ethos in favour of taking the seat of power. He projected himself as a modernizer focused on economic growth and cleaner politics. However Thaksin's procedural legitimacy was overthrown by counterattacking from military-royalist alliance, pretexting that Thaksin caused internal conflicts and lacked morality. Soeharto's New Order regime which can be called 'administrative oligarchy' had an antipathy towards notions of economic and social rights as well as civil and political rights. In spite of the fact that the fall of Soeharto opened the political space for democratic civil society organizations which had long struggled with development aggression and human rights abuses, there have been continuously a strong political and military reaction against human rights activists, NGOs and ethnic minorities such as Aceh and Papua. Nevertheless, Indonesian democracy is more promising than Philippine's and Thai democracy in terms of comparatively less pre-modern legacies.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.29 no.3
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• pp.281-296
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• 1994

It is generally accepted that there is always a potential for crisis in the capitalist society because of the internal contradiction of capitalism. The contradiction is explicitly and implicitly expressed in space. The fundamental contradiction in capitalism, however, is controlled and mediated by the state (i.e., the capitalist state). We thus could argue that the state plays an important role in the capitalist society and in the capitalist spatial formation. It is necessary to note how and why spatial structure has developed unevenly in capitalist societies, particularly in the U.S., The general concept of uneven geographical development is understood in the context of the capitalist economic system and the role of the state. But the problem is that the capitalist state itself has a contradiction between the productive function (i.e., accumulation function) and the reproductive function (i.e., legitimation function). The compromise of the two functions is always the dilemma of the state and the state becomes the object of class struggle (e.g., political class struggle) . The research questions are as follows. First, what is the role of the state in the economic structure and what is the internal problem of the state\ulcorner Second, what is the role of the state in space economy (or in spatial structure)\ulcorner And last, what is the relation between the federal state and the local state in the U.S. and how does the relation form the urban policies and thus the urban and regional development\ulcorner The paper will be looking at how the political economy in the U.S. explains unevenly developed geographical phenomenon.

• Analyses & Alternatives
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• v.3 no.1
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• pp.5-28
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• 2019

This study suggests that Korea - Russia economic cooperation, which has been sluggish in the meantime, should be revitalized as a small, medium sized business that can be practiced at the local level of both countries. Some large scales of national projects were difficult to realize due to some internal and external factors. Therefore, if Russia's Far East region of the complementary economic structure with the Korea's Gyeonggi Province of Korea could form the basis of cooperation by centering on SMEs, it further can be positive for promoting cooperation among South Korea, North Korea and Russia. The trilateral cooperation among two Koreas and Russia is necessary for the balance of political and economic powers in the East Asia. China's retaliation case regarding THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) clearly showed that the greater the economic dependence on a particular country, the more threatening it could be. Therefore, it is important for the political and economic security to keep the balance by diversifying economic cooperation counterparts. As China's influence in the global economy grows, building value chains for mutual prosperity with various neighboring countries is gaining great importance. To this end, this paper examined Russia's Eurasian Strategy, New East Policy, and Far East Development Policy which were designed to seek the way to establish Russia's independent economic zone not absorbed by Europe and China.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.131-161
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• 2017

The political dynamics of Malaysia in 2016 should be seen as a process of losing an political opportunity mainly due to the split in opposition parties. The opportunity for political development was triggered by the ruling party in crisis. The ongoing 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) scandal involving the Prime Minister Najib Razak would have provided a favorable condition for the transfer of power. The opposition parties have however failed to utilize the chance that has arisen since the general elections in 2008 and 2013 due to the chronic problem of disunity. It can be seen as distortions of political development referring to a phenomenon in which a chance for regime change formed by the crisis in authoritarian regime is distorted by internal conflicts among opposition parties. Malaysia's political turmoil seemed to paralyze its economy while foreign policy was used as a tool for domestic politics. It was reported that the key economic indicator have worsen including exports and budget deficit. The ringgit had dropped to its lowest level since the economic crisis in 1997-98 which was mainly attributed to diminishing credibility on the Najib's administration. Najib's political struggle has also impeded Malaysia's foreign policy which has attempt to embrace China and the Rohingya issue. The chance to manage key risks would be diminished if oppositions' disunity continues as there is speculation that the general election could be held in 2017.

• The Southeast Asian review
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.21-51
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• 2018

This article takes several approaches in explaining recent developments in Vietnam. First, it draws upon an array of sources that idealize Vietnam's embrace of capitalism and integration into the global market in order to sketch out its economy's progress in 2017. Second, it observes, evaluates, and diagnoses recent changes in the Vietnamese economy in the medium to long term by incorporating conflicting perspectives on Vietnam's performance as a capitalist country. Third, this article traces the power shifts that have risen from internal struggles in the Communist Party over political and social issues. Fourth, it elaborates on the aforementioned impact that foreign relations have had on socio-political developments in Vietnam, as well as the government's response. In so doing, it also attempts to evaluate, however briefly, the significance of the 25th anniversary of South Korea-Vietnam relations. Finally, it examines the public's reaction to the post-reform transitions in light of recent sociocultural changes. 2017 was a memorable year for Vietnam: a continuous march toward capitalism; the resulting expansion of the Vietnamese people's demands; political controversies and government control; the looming instability of United States-China relations and various attempts to address the situation. These events will inevitably replicate themselves in the future as the ostensibly socialist Vietnam adopts a capitalist model. The problem is that it is unclear whether these experiences will continue with the consent of the people of socialist Vietnam or engender resistance. It is difficult to achieve meaningful consent in the status quo of worsening inequalities, widespread corruption, monopoly on power, and sustained use of unskilled low-wage workers. In other words, when concerns such as welfare, public health, and the environment are set aside in favor of economic development and commercialization as they have been, discontent, rather than consent, will prevail. It is thus important to keep a watchful eye on the viability of the nominal economic growth, surface-level political stability, and strategic responses to foreign relations that took place in 2017.

• Journal of the Korean Geographical Society
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• v.38
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• pp.15-36
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• 1988

In this paper, I consider the development of methods in contemporary human geography in terms of a dialectical relation of action and structure, and try to draw a new horizon of method toward which geographical research and spatial theory would develop. The positivist geography which was dominent during 1960s has been faced both with serious internal reflections and strong external criticisms in the 1970s. The internal reflections that pointed out its ignorance of spatial behavior of decision-makers and its simplication of complex spatial relations have developed behavioural geography and systems-theoretical approach. Yet this kinds of alternatives have still standed on the positivist, geography, even though they have seemed to be more real and complicate than the previous one, The external criticisms that have argued against the positivist method as phenomenalism and instrumentalism suggest some alternatives: humanistic geography which emphasizes intention and action of human subject and meaning-understanding, and structuralist geography which stresses on social structure as a totality which would produce spatial phenomena, and a theoretical formulation. Human geography today can be characterized by a strain and conflict between these methods, and hence rezuires a synthetic integration between them. Philosophy and social theory in general are in the same in which theories of action and structural analysis have been complementary or conflict with each other. Human geography has fallen into a further problematic with the introduction of a method based on so-called political ecnomy. This method has been suggested not merely as analternative to the positivist geography, but also as a theoretical foundation for critical analysis of space. The political economy of space with has analyzed the capitalist space and tried to theorize its transformation may be seen either as following humanistic(or Hegelian) Marxism, such as represented in Lefebvre's work, or as following structuralist Marxism, such as developed in Castelles's or Harvey's work. The spatial theory following humanistic Marxism has argued for a dialectic relation between 'the spatial' and 'the social', and given more attention to practicing human agents than to explaining social structures. on the contray, that based on structuralist Marxism has argued for social structures producing spatial phenomena, and focused on theorising the totality of structures, Even though these two perspectives tend more recently to be convergent in a way that structuralist-Marxist. geographers relate the domain of economic and political structures with that of action in their studies of urban culture and experience under capitalism, the political ecnomy of space needs an integrated method with which one can overcome difficulties of orthhodox Marxism. Some novel works in philosophy and social theory have been developed since the end of 1970s which have oriented towards an integrated method relating a series of concepts of action and structure, and reconstructing historical materialism. They include Giddens's theory of structuration, foucault's geneological analysis of power-knowledge, and Habermas's theory of communicative action. Ther are, of course, some fundamental differences between these works. Giddens develops a theory which relates explicitly the domain of action and that of structure in terms of what he calls the 'duality of structure', and wants to bring time-space relations into the core of social theory. Foucault writes a history in which strategically intentional but nonsubjective power relations have emerged and operated by virtue of multiple forms of constrainst wihthin specific spaces, while refusing to elaborate any theory which would underlie a political rationalization. Habermas analyzes how the Western rationalization of ecnomic and political systems has colonized the lifeworld in which we communicate each other, and wants to formulate a new normative foundation for critical theory of society which highlights communicatie reason (without any consideration of spatial concepts). On the basis of the above consideration, this paper draws a new norizon of method in human geography and spatial theory, some essential ideas of which can be summarized as follows: (1) the concept of space especially in terms of its relation to sociery. Space is not an ontological entity whch is independent of society and has its own laws of constitution and transformation, but it can be produced and reproduced only by virtue of its relation to society. Yet space is not merlely a material product of society, but also a place and medium in and through which socety can be maintained or transformed.(2) the constitution of space in terms of the relation between action and structure. Spatial actors who are always knowledgeable under conditions of socio-spatial structure produce and reproduce their context of action, that is, structure; and spatial structures as results of human action enable as well as constrain it. Spatial actions can be distinguished between instrumental-strategicaction oriented to success and communicative action oriented to understanding, which (re)produce respectively two different spheres of spatial structure in different ways: the material structure of economic and political systems-space in an unknowledged and unitended way, and the symbolic structure of social and cultural life-space in an acknowledged and intended way. (3) the capitalist space in terms of its rationalization. The ideal development of space would balance the rationalizations of system space and life-space in a way that system space providers material conditions for the maintainance of the life-space, and the life-space for its further development. But the development of capitalist space in reality is paradoxical and hence crisis-ridden. The economic and poltical system-space, propelled with the steering media like money, and power, has outstriped the significance of communicative action, and colonized the life-space. That is, we no longer live in a space mediated communicative action, but one created for and by money and power. But no matter how seriously our everyday life-space has been monetalrized and bureaucratised, here lies nevertheless the practical potential which would rehabilitate the meaning of space, the meaning of our life on the Earth.